Blog of Web Developer Garry Pilkington

(ASP.Net, C#, AngularJs, JavaScript, HTML5 & UWP)

There are some things you cannot do on a typical Windows 8.1 installation such as view a web site externally when running IIS Express. But also if you want to run full IIS on a Windows Pro 8.1 machine and have Visual Studio run your web application through it then you need to run Visual Studio with administrator privileges. In Windows 7 there is a compatibility tab in the program properties where you can specify this, but that is not available in Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 installations. So find the location of the devenv.exe application file. This is usually somewhere like C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE. Right click it and instead of choosing properties, choose troubleshoot compatibility. Select Troubleshoot program for the options Then check the box for additional permissions (this usually means administrator privileges). Now test the program by running Visual Studio Once Visual Studio has opened, at the top it should specify that it is running as administrator Back to the wizard, choose 'Yes, save these settings for this program' It will do its thing and look for any other issues. You should see the next image when it has finished off. Simply close it and you should be OK with running IIS Express as well as a local installation of IIS.

Windows 10

Right so I got the name completely wrong in my last post, I will admit that straight away; talk about a curve ball. I have been having a play around with the technical preview of Windows 10 and I am liking it a lot. I believe it is definitely an easier migration path for enterprise users still on XP. Is the reason why Microsoft went from 8 to 10 because of the theory that enterprises have a tendency to miss out on a release when doing their client migrations. So going from XP to Windows 7 and missing Vista and going from Windows 7 to Windows 9 or in this case Windows 10. Who knows.

Charms are still there in Windows 10

There was a rumor going around in the software development community a while back that Charms will be disappearing in the next Windows release. As this image shows, they are still there. However if you have a Store app open on your desktop and use the same key combination of Windows+C, then you also get access to a lot of the same functionality within the app.

Why is this such a big deal

If you are developing Windows store apps, you need to be sure that what you are coding will be supported in future Windows releases. If you are adding functionality that allows your users to change app settings, they would now be accessible from both the Charms and context menu in the app. Maybe the Charms will disappear by the time Windows 10 gets its full release some time in 2015. At least this way all that work doing app settings fly outs will not go to waste. The other option would be to add the same functionality to a bottom menu in the app, similar to what you do in a Windows Phone app. Happy coding

Windows 9 aka Threshold

Just a day to go before more details are released about the next version of Windows and I thought I would have a guess at the name. Based on this image of Terry Myerson from this link:- https://www.wpcentral.com/microsofts-operating-system-leader-teases-new-windows-name-ahead-tuesday-reveal I have done some serious forensic image processing and in the end completely guessed that the Windows text will be centrally aligned. On my monitor and scaling in Paint.Net there is 156 pixels on the left hand side and just over 156 pixels on the right with no room left for any other lettering or wording as this image shows. So there you go, its just going to be Windows from now on. Happy codeing.

While developing your Windows 8 Store App, you have two choices when it comes to debugging. The first is to debug on the machine you are developing with and the second is to set up remote debugging on another device and debug from your development machine whilst running the app on the second device. Here I will explain how to set up a Surface RT machine to allow debugging from a laptop when both are connected to a home wi-fi connection. Here is the set up I used for this demo; simple stuff. Both devices are only connected to my home w-fi. Firstly you need to install the Remote Tools for Visual Studio 2013, and choose just the ARM component. Transfer this file over to your Surface device and run it on there. Normally installs are blocked on an RT device, however this is allowed to install. This gives you an app to run under Visual Studio 2013, you will have to go to the All Apps screen to get access to it. You can then pin it to your Start Screen if you wish. Running this app takes you to the desktop view and waits for incoming connections. Note the name of the device:- here its GP_SURFACE You can go to Tools >> Options and select the No Authentication radio button. This is not recommended, but it will do for this example. Go to Visual Studio and choose Remote Device from the debugging drop down menu. You may get an error with deployment, this is because authentication is set by default. To fix this, right click the project file and go to properties. This is where you can configure the authentication and the remote machine name. When doing this the first time Visual Studio will prompt you for the machine name, but if you need to change it in the future it is here under Properties. Now when you run it, you will see on the Surface debugger that a connection has been made just prior to the app being deployed and run. You can now debug into your app. Here is my setup with my app MoonPhase running in debug mode. Happy coding.

I am not big on predictions especially when it comes to the tech industry; it just moves too quickly. However I am going to chance one, but maybe its more a wishful thought than a prediction, but here goes. A Prediction for Windows By the end of 2014 there will be two windows operating systems. Windows Pro - Running Intel 32 and 64 bit versions which will give users access to apps from the store and legacy (lets face it the vast majority of applications are the more traditional ones we have been using for the past couple decades; they ain't going anywhere just yet.) Windows on ARM - This will be any other device from phone to 10 inch tablets. But here's the killer; Microsoft will drop the Phone title, so there won't be a Windows Phone anymore. Just devices that may or nay not include a phone. They have to drop the Phone moniker simply because they have to have a simpler name for any ARM device. This will solve Julie Larson-Greens issue when she referred to not having the three Windows operating systems. So when will this happen? There will most likely be an announcement at Build 2014 about Windows Phone 8.1. But there is already leaks about Windows 8.1 Update 1. Maybe this will align the ARM OS more closely with an 8.2 release that will leave only the Windows Pro 8.2 and Windows 8.2 running on ARM chips. A Wish for Bing As there will be different device sizes, could Microsoft Bing please filter web results for the size if the requesting device? Doing Shopping at Christmas on a Lumia 520 to find the site doesn't have a responsive site is just unworkable in this day and age. If a website wants to take my money, please at least make the experience a reasonable one. Happy Coding